Everything Shetland

It never rains, but it pours

I received a message of disaster and subsequent photos from Jo this morning. So I phoned her and found she was waiting for the vet to come out. I went over dashing over too.

Buggery bollox. My poor Hetja.

God alone knows how she did this. They are all very squirty (in season) and argumentative at the moment so it could’ve been a low flying shoe in an exchange of views.

Ho hum. Once the vet had been, cleaned, dressed and made Hetja’s leg all green (Vetwrap), Jo and I decided to make their field smaller. Firstly, to keep the wound dry and out of any boggy bits and secondly because some (no, all) horses are rotund.

So up went the portable electric fence.

We are not huge fans of box rest, to be perfectly honest. We would prefer Hetja wandered about happy in her mind and letting her leg heal without the complications of standing still for hours on end. We will see how it goes in the next few days.

Luckily, our vet agreed with our future treatment.

So we will keep a close eye, daily dressings and please send lots of healing vibes. I am sure they will help my darling Hetja. Tis a bugger because Taktur, my Icelandic stallion, was due to run with her on Wednesday. We will have to put those plans on hold now.

In an opposite field, The Minions were busy ogling Melinda and Verona, Shetland pony mares who have come down for the summer.

The boys need to be moved quickly mostly because I miss my Minions but typically – no Land Rover (service, MOT and new tyres and a steering wheel thingy that sounds rather important) plus no trailer (flat-tyre).

Question: I notice your pony wears shoes. I know nuts about horse care but I know there is a controversy about shoes versus barefoot. Are they for protecting their hooves from the road when you ride them? Or is it a tradition where you live? And it looks like they’re clamped on: not nailed.